At the Bottom of the Ocean
by HelleBoreHunt
Summary: Wheeljack has dragged Ratchet into coming with him on a deep sea exploration. Sounds fun, right? Well, Ratchet doesn't think so. But that's okay. It's all in the name of science, right? And maybe a bit of romance while they're at it. Just maybe.


**A/N: Just fluffy G1 Ratchet/Wheeljack. Inspired by this post: perfectionistdia. tumblr .com post/39695062420/ whorusszahhak-dont-ever-take-me-on-a-date-to (take out the spaces).  
Warnings: None. It's just SO MUCH FLUFF (or it's supposed to be anyway).  
Disclaimer: Not mine.  
**

Ratchet narrowed his optics at the large metal sphere sitting innocently on the dock. It stood taller than him, with four windows on about the same level as his helm spread equidistant around it. He crossed his arms over his chest, huffing and turning his scowl to the engineer talking to several humans around him. His arms waved wildly, and his helm fins flickered between blue and yellow. At least two of the humans were more entranced by the engineer himself than whatever he was saying. Suddenly he whipped his helm in Ratchet's direction, his optics creasing as he smiled under his mask and waved. Ratchet didn't bother to return it. Wheeljack turned back to the gaggle of humans around him, saying a few more words before they all scurried off and Wheeljack made his way over to him.

"So what do you think?" he asked, patting the vessel as he came to a stop in front of the medic.

Ratchet huffed. "What do I think? I think I'm going to regret agreeing to accompany you."

"Aw, c'mon Ratchet." Wheeljack stepped closer, throwing an arm over the medic's shoulders, ignoring the growl the action got him. "It's exciting! No one's ever been this deep in the ocean before! We'll be the first! Isn't that exciting?"

Ratchet gestured at the vessel with a wave of his servo. "But why are we doing it?"

Wheeljack paused. "Uh… science?" he offered.

Ratchet stared at him.

"I mean, think about it Ratchet! Who knows what's down there? Sure, I partly agreed to do this just for the humans, and to feed my own curiosity." He ignored Ratchet's huff of laughter. "But who knows?" he walked to the edge of the dock and peered down into the water. "We might find something useful for the Autobots down there. We just don't know it yet."

Ratchet was silent for a moment, then gave a resigned sigh. He walked forward, joining Wheeljack at the edge of the dock. They stood in silence, before the call came for them to depart.

"You better hope we find something down there." Ratchet muttered as they walked up the ramp onto the ship. "Or else you're going to really regret wasting my time."

Wheeljack waved his servos in front of him, though his helm fins betrayed his amusement. "Okay, okay! Whatever you say Ratchet!"

Ratchet grunted, settling against the railing of the ship to wait until they reached their destination. Damn Wheeljack for knowing he was more bark than bite!

Ratchet glared at Wheeljack as he entered the submersible. Wheeljack just flickered his fins at him, settling at the controls. The door closed behind him, and the locks engaged with a loud beep. Ratchet fought down the sudden odd feeling of claustrophobia. He stared out the window, watching humans bustling around with last minute preparations.

"What is this thing anyway?" Ratchet suddenly asked. "It doesn't look like and submarine I've ever seen before."

Wheeljack hummed, fiddling with the controls. "It's not. It's a bathysphere. They were used in the 1930s for deep sea exploration, since humans couldn't dive deep and a submarine has now windows for observation." He tapped the window above his helm for emphasis. "The original bathysphere was much smaller, and couldn't move on its own. It was moved by ship, and lowered and raised on steel cables. Ours, on the other hand, is much larger to accommodate for our larger size, and will be lowered by a cable that will release us as soon as we are at 500 feet so we can move as we please."

Ratchet stared at him incredulously. "I forgot how focused you could get when the situation called for it." he murmured. "So how come I'm here with you instead of Perceptor or Skyfire?"

"Skyfire's a flyer. It wouldn't do good to confine him in an enclosed space several thousand feet below the ocean for a long period of time. And Perceptor was busy working with Blaster on upgrading our communication abilities."

Ratchet hummed noncommittally. Another alarm sounded, and Ratchet didn't pay it any heed until the bathysphere suddenly lurched. He swore as he nearly fell out of his seat, quickly scrambling to get back in it as the bathysphere lurched again.

"There's a safety belt attached to the seat." Wheeljack quipped, poorly hiding his amusement. "We're being lifted off the ship's deck right now. In a moment, you'll feel the bathysphere swing to the right as we're moved over the water. Then we'll be lowered into the water." Wheeljack finally turned from the controls to face the medic. "Sound good?"

Ratchet nodded, turning his helm to stare out the window as they slowly climbed higher. They finally stopped, and hung in the air for a moment before the vessel, just as Wheeljack had warned him, swung to the right as it was moved over the ocean. They hung suspended for another moment, and another alarm signaled their descent. Ratchet watched the water come closer, the moment it hit the water barely felt due to their slow speed. Water lapped up the sides, and Ratchet fought down the claustrophobia again when it completely covered his window. He turned his helm slightly, and frowned when Wheeljack showed no signs of being affected by the submersion. Ratchet turned back to his window, only to jump back with a gasp.

"Primus! Wheeljack, what is that?"

Wheeljack turned around, then stood and walked over to stand beside Ratchet. "It's a sea turtle. Large, relatively harmless, and friendly as long as you aren't hostile towards it." he chuckled. "And you can unbuckle yourself now. We're not going to be hitting anything or moving quickly in any direction for a while."

Ratchet glared at him, and waited until he was back at the controls to undo his belt. He turned back to the window, but the turtle was already gone.

"I'm gonna warn ya now, doc." Ratchet turned his helm to look at Wheeljack. "The deeper in we get, the stranger things we're gonna see."

Ratchet rolled his optics. "Lovely."

Wheeljack chuckled, though it was cut off by the alarm. A clunk sounded above their helms, and the bathysphere shifted a little before going back into its smooth descent. Wheeljack was at once back at the controls.

"We've been released by the cable attaching us to the ship. We are now free to go and do as we please within an eight mile radius."

Ratchet nodded, trying to look to the surface from the window. He couldn't see much. "Do you have any idea what we might find here? Or what you might be looking for?"

Wheeljack nodded. "The creatures that live in the deep ocean have adapted over time for survival down here. A lot of them are blind, or very close to it, and have developed unique and intuitive means for hunting or reproduction." He turned in his seat to face the ambulance. "Personally? I'm interested in their bioluminescent abilities."

"If you make anyone start glowing, you'll be praying I stop at reformatting you." Ratchet growled.

Wheeljack laughed. "The thought had crossed my mind. But I'm more interested in it for other reasons." he shrugged. "And who knows what else we might find? Energy sources, materials for construction, the possibilities are endless!"

Ratchet chuckled, resting his helm on his servo. "It's been a while since I've seen you this excited."

Wheeljack ducked his helm. "It's been a while since I've been able to work on a project not related to the war."

Ratchet's optics softened. "This war has gone on for a very long time."

Wheeljack nodded. His mask clicked and retracted, allowing him to rub at his face. "Far too long."

Ratchet looked out the window, hoping to see something to distract them from the suddenly depressing atmosphere they had created. It was rapidly getting darker and darker, indicating their swift descent. He shifted his attention back to Wheeljack when the engineer started to fiddle with a piece of machinery in his lap.

"What is that?" Ratchet asked, reasonably wary. Wheeljack looked up at him with a smile.

"Non-explosive." he assured. "It's just a little pet project."

"Wheeljack." Ratchet growled. "Remember what happened to the last 'pet project' of yours that you told me was 'non-explosive'?"

Wheeljack ducked his helm, chuckling weakly. "I still haven't got all the soot cleaned up." He shook his helm, and put the invention back into his subspace. "Sorry."

Ratchet shook his helm and looked back out the window to hide his fond smile. "You better be. It took me forever to put you back together. And that was after we scraped you off the wall and collected all your parts!"

Wheeljack laughed loudly, standing and draping his arms over the medic's shoulders. "Eh, it keeps you from getting bored." he mused, resting his helm atop Ratchet's.

Ratchet scoffed. "I'd almost prefer the boredom."

Wheeljack huffed, folding his arms over the ambulance's chest. "If you say so. Hey, look! Down there!" He pointed out the window. "We're getting close!"

Ratchet leaned forward, looking out the window. In the darkness, he could see hundreds of tiny, flickering lights that he assumed were living creatures. "What are they?"

"Probably shrimp or plankton. The bigger ones are more likely jellyfish or angler fish." Wheeljack relinquished his hold, crossing the bathysphere back to the control panel. "We'll find out here in a second."

Ratchet kept his gaze still as the lights rose up to meet them. He looked closer as the lights passed the window, but couldn't see anything besides the little balls of light. A few bigger ones passed by, jellyfish floating along through the water. The bathysphere slowed, then with a thump stopped. Ratchet looked over to Wheeljack, looking for an answer.

"We've hit bottom." he supplied when he saw the look. "Welcome to the bottom of the ocean Ratchet!"

Ratchet nodded, going back to the window. Even with his optics on their highest sensitivity, he could see very little. More of the jellyfish and tiny light balls passed by, but other than that they were just sitting in darkness. Ratchet was about to turn and ask Wheeljack if he should be looking for anything, but paused when something flickered at the edge of his vision. He narrowed his optics, leaning forward until he was almost pressed against the window, and screamed when a large eye was suddenly staring back at him. He flailed, falling out of his chair and crawling across the floor. Wheeljack jerked, spinning around to see what the problem was. Ratchet was confused by the sudden excited noise he made as he rushed over to the window.

"It's- it's a giant squid! Wow! The humans said they were big, but I didn't think-" Wheeljack trailed off, his arms flopping to his sides. "Wow."

Ratchet watched as Wheeljack pressed to the window, helm fins flickering madly in delight. The squid seemed equally entranced, watching him with its large eye. One tentacle rose up and smacked against the glass, making Wheeljack practically squeal in delight and Ratchet squawk in distress as the bathysphere rocked with the force of the other tentacles wrapping around the vessel. Wheeljack pressed his servo to the window, underneath the tentacle.

"They're curious creatures, ya know. And extremely intelligent! They've been known to escape their tanks because of how fast they learn. And they can squeeze into the tiniest of spaces!" Wheeljack said, though whether he was talking to Ratchet or himself was hard to tell. Still, it was… endearing. Ratchet rose from his sprawl on the floor, watching the inventor. It really had been a long time since he had seen him so excited. And about an aquatic creature no less! Ratchet was unaware of the fond smile that spread across his face as Wheeljack started to gesture as he talked _to _the squid, fins flickering blue and yellow in happiness. He hadn't realized how much he had _missed _seeing Wheeljack get caught up in his experiments, focused and happy and-

Wheeljack was staring at him.

"What?" Ratchet snapped back from his thoughts as the squid detached and swam away, now that Wheeljack was no longer paying attention to it.

"You're smiling. And you look, I don't know." He made a helpless motion with his hands. "Spacey? Or- lovesick! That's it!" Wheeljack regarded Ratchet curiously.

Ratchet shifted his weight. "Ah, yeah, well…" he looked up at the engineer shyly. "I guess I was a little." He crossed the space between them, wrapping his arms around Wheeljack's waist. "I've forgotten how cute you are when you get really excited." he chuckled. "I hadn't realized until now how much I missed it."

Wheeljack ducked his helm. "Oh. I, uh, guess I do tend to get a little carried away. Most mechs tell me it's a bad thing."

Ratchet scoffed. "I'm insulted you consider me 'most mechs'."

Wheeljack laughed. "Hardly." He nuzzled his face against Ratchet's. "You're one of a kind, Ratchet."

The fond smile crossed his face again. "Sap."

"You're no better."

They stood in silence for several kliks before finally separating. "So, how long are we gonna be down here for?" Ratchet questioned.

"As long as we need." Wheeljack shrugged. "Which may be a while."

Ratchet nodded, and settled back in to his seat to watch Wheeljack work. He didn't think he would mind being down here for a while.

Wheeljack crossed over to where he was sitting, reaching over his shoulder and fiddling with an instrument for a moment before turning, kissing Ratchet briefly on the cheek, and returning to the other side of the bathysphere.

Ratchet smiled wider. No, he wouldn't mind being down here at all.


End file.
